♥♥♥ Happy 13th Birthday Maddi ♥♥♥

To my gorgeous daughter,

Happy 13th Birthday sweetheart!!! Time has passed so quickly, one day i was holding u in my arms and the next u are this gorgeous young woman. U captivated me then (id spend hours just watching u sleep) and u still do now. I love ur spirit and ur joy for life and i admire ur confidence and ur enthusiasm.

I love the time we spend together, those late nights with movies and popcorn, or those dance sessions (how bad am i??? lol) or those long chats we have about anything and everything (ok not so much about the cute boys lol) or the times we cook together, or when we just mess around like silly girls!!!! Each and every moment is precious to me and i know it is to u as well.........ur family is very important to u, ur love for all of us is admirable.

You have always been a "daddies girl" and i love to watch the two of u working on ur homework or just sitting and talking.........dad loves u so much and ur friendship has been a delight!!! At times u give him a "run for his money" but that bond is just so strong!!!! Cohen just adores u, and u adore him...he looks to u for everything and u always have the time to help him or teach him.........its been a wonderful experience watching the two of u grow together!!

You have taught me so much about myself. I have looked deeper into who i am, to be the best mother for u and for ur brother but most importantly u have taught me that whatever u dream, u can do!!! Nobody can tell u that "it cant be done", if its what u want then u set about making it happen and u succeed!!!

You can be stubborn (not sure who u got that from hmmmm lol) but u stand strong to ur convictions.......dont ever change, continue to walk "to the beat of ur own drum", u know what u want from life and its all there for the taking and whatever u chose u know ur biggest "fanclub" (mum, dad and Cohen) is right behind u, cheering u on!!!

I do so love u, my little "Muff", i hope ur birthday is special and i look forward to watching u grow more and more everyday and remember, mum is always here for u, no matter what!!!

Enjoy ur day!!!
I love u with every beat of my heart, every breathe of my body and every inch of my soul!!!
Mum xxx

Great Start To The Week

A couple of "finishes" today and some lovely, thoughtful snailmail has made it a great start to the week!!! On Wednesday, our daughter turns 13 so it will be a busy week....a family party on Wed and then a "rollerskating and pizza party" on Saturday for her friends............so i have been sewing and sewing and sewing lol. First up, Row D of my SBS quilt is complete, woohooo (this was a challenging, yet fun row):

Hands All Around, Milky Way,Rambler, Mothers Delight & Square and Star

Odd Fellows Patch, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, Rosebud, Orange Peel & Boys Nonsense

That makes a total of 40 blocks done yeh......100 to go!!!!! ok lol but i soooo love the challenges this quilt offers....im soooo tempted to cut the sashings and put the rows together but ill wait just a bit longer (if i can!!!)
Maddis Birthday Quilt top is all ready, just waiting for the guests to sign and then i will quilt and bind it later........im so happy with this, although the pictures arent so good and Maddi just loves it....what a great memory quilt (the cream squares r for signing):

with a special message from us: (which actually says "We love you Maddi xxx")

Im proud of myself, its finished and ready (and Im not up stitching till the late hours tommorrow nite, before her birthday.......no, ill be wrapping pressies lol)

I went to the mailbox this morning and guess what i found.......not one, but two pressies from special friends made through blogging.......both of these gorgeous ladies made me feel so special and i treasure their friendships......firstly from Anne, she sent me this lovely postcard from Rondune, where she was recently vacationing with her friends....it is just a beautiful part of the world and i can imagine building a house with THAT view to sew to everyday!!! And then i got a parcel from Leigh, with this adorable "Family Tree Quilt" with the most amazing little stitchery (that i cant wait to get my hands on!!!!) and a lovely card that i will treasure:

It feels so wonderful to recieve such thoughtful gifts and i feel blessed......having no quilting friends, i have embraced blogland, its like a quilting group that i visit everynite and they r so accepting and supportive of me........all is good, flu is gone (eventually) and im all ready to tackle my Medallion quilt!!!!

Take care
Rose xxx

House Medallion Part 1

You may remember my House stitchery....for some time now i have wanted to design a Medallion quilt, so this stitchery was my starting point. I have seen many Medallion quilts which i just love and i did a bit of research and found that they originally started with a square (on point) and then borders were added to show the quilters skill.....ive probably broken every Medallion rule, but heres part of my version:

These r the corner blocks, which i agonized over but im sticking with them lol.......so then it was off to the fun part........the borders!!!! ok so bare with me on this, i might change my mind:


I just love Flying Geese, so of course they had to be in there somewhere, why not the first border??? I plan on another 2 major borders at this stage so i will post as it progresses. Its been fun to sew so far and i want it to be quite busy and scrappy and then u can just use up whats in the "stash".......its just a matter of getting those measurements right (and we all know how good my math is lol)...........so far so good (ok i confess, i had a total math meltdown with the first pinwheel but i fixed it lol)
Stay tuned for the next border.......it could be awhile cause i got Maddi's Birthday Quilt to be finished before next Wednesday..........but i think so far, so much fun!!!!
Take care
Rose xxx

And The Winners Are....

Congratulations Deb from Layla Lou, Shelina from Shelina's Creations and the lovely Bren from Pieces from Me on being the three winners of my new design "Hugs From Grandma"!!!!......It was a fun experience and the family were all excited tonite when the basket was passed around them and they got to select a lucky winner (and I secretly wanted everyone to win!!!!) So if u girls would kindly email me ur "snail mail" addresses, ill post them ASAP!!!!
I have really enjoyed reading the stories of ur families and it again reiterates just how lucky i have been to be part of 5 generations, twice!!!!
Today has been hectic, this morning i finished off a lot of loose ends, including getting an order of patterns ready to send out, so i had the rest of the day to myself, or so i thought lol An unexpected phone call led to a "huge" order for patterns being placed and they want it "like yesterday" lol sooooo off i go to get it all ready!!!!
For those of u who asked about where my patterns r available from, there is a link in the sidebar to The Country Quilter, who stock my designs or u can email me direct, i have Paypal so International sales r quite quick and easy!!! (all designs r in Flicker...in the sidebar)
Thanx again for all who entered.....ill definetley being doing it again with my next design!!!
Take care
Rose xxx

Postcard From Anne!!!

Today i recieved a postcard from Anne Ida, who had been in England for a couple of weeks and then followed that up with a holiday to the mountains with friends. She is such a sweetie to remember me and send me something from Leeds!!!! Quilters r such wonderful people and i have been blessed to make such wonderful friends on here!!
I have put her postcard on my inspiration wall, among a lot of my favorite things!!! I have really missed her these last 3 weeks (we email each other at least 3 times a day lol!!!) but i know she will be home soon with news of her holiday!! She is my mentor with the SBS quilt, although i havent sewn any since she has been away lol (i got some cut though which i will sew soon!!)
Thnx for the postcard sweetie
Rose xxx

Weekend in Hobart

This weekend we headed down to the south of the state, to Hobart for DH's annual work dinner. We stayed at the Casino (the kids loved the room service lol!!!) , heres the view from our room:

(Sorry Jules, had to take a pic of "that" mountain just in case u were missing it!!! lol)

It really is a pretty place, except it was sooooo cold!!! The dinner was great and at these kind of functions i tend to "stress" about talking to the other wives but this year my body decided to take over and took my voice lol.... all nite i was trying to speak and sounding like a creaky door (and it is really frustrating trying to talk to people across a table, in a crowded room with music playing.....without a voice!!!! lol). The next morning it was gone completley which made for a difficult shopping day (it seemed like all the shop assistants wanted to chat!!!!)

But i did manage to visit a couple of quilt shops.......I havent brought any fabrics for my stash in sooooo long, so i had a great time just picking out ones i loved:

Some of these will end up in the House Medallion wallhanging which i hope to start sometime this week. Thnx to all those who have entered the "giveaway" so far. I have loved reading ur stories about ur families!!! A few people have sent me emails so that they can be included as well, which was lovely. We will do the draw Tuesday after dinner!!

Take care
Rose xxx

Giveaway!!

My new design is all finished and ready for sale, so i decided to have some fun and have a "giveaway"!!!! I have 3 patterns up for grabs, so just leave a comment here and i will get the family to help with the draw on Tuesday nite!!!

Now i did promise that this design comes with a story (like all of my designs actually lol)....this cushion is a tribute to my grandmothers:

When i was born (wayyyyyyy back in 1967) i was a "fifth generation girl"....the above photo is of me (aint i just soooo cute....sorta lol its the way my mother dressed me), my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother and my great great grandmother........all the eldest, all girls!!! Now i heard this story countless times whilst growing up and it really meant nothing to me............27 years later i gave birth to my daughter, Madeline and again the family saw 5 generations (all girls!!!).........the importance of that still didnt register!!!

Maybe cause im close to turning 40 and life is so much clearer, ive really realised the significance of this..........our family may not experience this again (or at least not in the near future). I am fortunate enough to "really know" the women before me........i can see both their strengths and their weaknesses in me...........i am who i am because of them!!!

Each of the women in that photo have shaped me, have overcome their own hardships, have experienced joy, suffered sadness, have loved and have been loved.........im proud to be part of that photo, that moment in time...........this design is for them!!!!

Good luck with the draw
Happy stitching
Rose xxx

Frustrated!!

I am totally frustrated (this flu has control and its driving me nuts)....ok i know when we get sick our bodies r just saying, "take a break" but come on, ive had enough lol!!! I suffer terribly from sinus problems, so of course, i now have a sinus infection but im done with the suffering......time to take action!!!! ( and thank goodness for sinus medication). I have sooooooo much i want to get done this month and top of my list is the magazine submission......all i had to do was finalise the instructions and make up the "in progress" samples..........they r done woohoo!!!:



As naive as i am, i always thought these were done whilst making the quilt (maybe if i knew it was going to be in the magazine i would have taken the photos lol) so i have been revisiting an old favorite and making up the samples........they will be posted to the mag on Thursday, giving me just one more day to look for errors!!!!

When i have had the energy, I have been hand quilting my next design (this is the one with a story!!!)....hopefully tommorrow i will finish the cushion, but that depends on how i feel!! Im giving u a sneak peek:


This is sooooo close to release.....and im excited, this is a project close to my heart!!! Its all i have been able to achieve these last few days....but hopefully the worst is behind me!!!
Take care and hope u r stitching (heaps!!!!)
Rose xxx

Stitchery Swap

I have just signed up for my first swap and im excited!!!! Its a great one for me cause its a stitchery swap.....for those of u who dont know about it, go and visit Sweet P for details. I just keep adding to that "to do list" lol but thats ok. At the moment, i have the flu and feel miserable so i spent tonite looking through my magazines and my file of stitchery patterns, trying to pick out what im going to do for the swap:

Its a hard decision, there r soooooo many gorgeous patterns to chose from, i still havent decided, but i have decided that my swap will be a little wallhanging!! Its amazing how distracted u get when u get out all ur craft books (even worse than reading the blogs......half an hour turns into 2 hours and ur only half way through ur favorites lol). But since i really didnt feel up to sewing it was great to reread all the articles (and i think i picked out another 50 projects i just HAVE to do lol)

So while i was sitting there on the sewing room floor, surrounded by magazines, i noticed my hyacinth bulb had opened. Now u know how u go to the Garden centre or if ur at the markets and there is a bucket of bulbs with the picture of the flower on the front???....well every year i must be the only person who picks out a bulb that was in the wrong bucket, mine is never the same colour as i pick.........but this year i got just the one i chose......im happy!!!

Take care and Happy stitching!!!
Rose xxx

UFO's and Etsy Shop

There has been a lot of blogging talk on UFO's and I have my far share of these....at the beginning of the year i printed out a nice little list of all my unfinished projects and the list totalled 16 items. I have managed to finish 8 off this list but in the meantime i have created quite a few more.....oh well, they will make next years list!!!!
At the moment my sewing room looks like a diaster area. I have bits and pieces of all im working on, all over the place and it only looks organised to me. Friday i sat down and wrote a list of all the things i wanted finished this month and then set to work. The first was this cushion:

Now this was a quick UFO finish, all it needed was the back put on and it is now my first item for the Etsy shop im going to set up this week. The stitcheries r from my Family Values designs and from time to time i plan on making items for the shop using these designs. The second item is this tablerunner:

I had the stitcheries and Nine patches all together, but i had to sew up the centre star block and then quilt and bind it (photos not great sorry, ill take a better one for the shop).
So that cleaned up a couple of areas in the sewing room this weekend and under all the chaos were some loggies, desperatley waiting to be sewn so today i got those finished which brings my tally to 408....only 72 to go!!!
Just a quick note to a couple of my "special lurkers"..............Happy 35th Birthday to my little sister!!!! Glad u had a great day and our lunch was fantastic!!!!.......plus to Georgie, congratulations on going back to TAFE, i wish u all the best for your exciting new journey (shes becoming a hairdresser and im so proud of her following her dreams!!!). Have a great first day tommorrow!!!!
Back to the UFO's for me,
Take care
Rose xxx

That Purple Quilt

Today i started sewing together the blocks i had ready for Madelines birthday quilt:

Once the stitchery blocks (for her guests to sign) r finished the quilt grows quickly:


She is really happy with the way its going, she loves the colours and shes quite eager to see it finished. It got me thinking back to 2 years ago.......and "that purple quilt".
I had just made Cohen a new quilt and Maddi and I decided that it was time for a new one for her.......now this was at a time when she was "horse crazy" and everything had to be purple. So we drafted out a rough design and set off to the LQS......big mistake lol. She walked in and instantly loved this bright purple floral fabric and we had to build a whole quilt around it, a quilt with horses on it:

This quilt was way out of my comfort zone (i do not like purple!!!), i really struggled with every stitch (its all hand appliqued, hand sewn and hand quilted) but every nite her eagerness to see the quilt grow kept me sewing. Part way through the quilt, she decided she wanted a "Phantom Stallion" (her favorite book at the time) in the centre, another challenge:

After 4 months of sewing and having to work with colours that were just not me, i gave the completed quilt to her (secretly happy to have the whole experience behind me lol). She was thrilled and that first nite she went to bed, snuggled up underneath her new quilt, i looked at it differently. It was so "her" and she loved it.........thats what quilting is all about!!!
Take care
Rose xxx